One of Asia's largest managed IT service providers (MSPs) and top Microsoft Azure partners has announced $100 million in private equity funding; plans to pursue international acquisitions; and will strive to launch an IPO (initial public offering) in 2023.
The details: Private equity firm Affirma Capital is investing $100 million in Metanet T Platform (MTP), a cloud-centric MSP and Microsoft Partner of the Year for 2020 for Korea. Armed with the war chest, MTP is exploring M&A strategies for overseas expansion, according to Taeyub Kim, co-founder and head of Korea at Affirma Korea.
The Affirma Capital investment represents the first time a private equity firm has directly invested in a Korea-based cloud MSP, the companies say.
MTP's Parent Business, Managed IT Services and Partners
Metanet Group, the parent of MTP, claims to be the largest digital business platform company in Korea. The business -- which spans 10,000 employees across 12 affiliates -- provides consulting, digital, technology solutions and operation services to customers.
The MTP business employs 1,700 IT personnel -- including middleware, database, application and cloud engineers. That expertise extends across public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud services, the company says.
Key MTP technology industry partners include such companies as:
- Platform suppliers such as Microsoft (365 and Azure), Red Hat (OpenStack & OpenShift); and IBM (private cloud, servers and storage).
- Security companies such as Cisco Systems, FireEye, Fortinet, IBM Security, RSA and Thales.
- Backup, disaster recovery (BDR) and data protection companies such as Veeam, Veritas and Cider.
- Infrastructure management companies such as Quest and DataDog.
MSP Expansion Plan: Cloud Investments, Partnerships and Acquisitions
MTP's expansion plans includes $174 million in cloud business investments over the next few years, the company says, to address:
- Technological advancement in PaaS (platform as a service) and SaaS (software as a service).
- Overseas business expansion, though specific target countries and regions were not mentioned in the funding announcement.
Moreover, MTP expects to "generate synergies" with multiple Affirma Capital portfolio companies, Kim says, including:
- Prodapt Solutions, a global finance/communications IT solution company located in India; and
- MoMo, the largest digital payment company in Vietnam.
Affirma Capital, which currently manages more than $3.5 billion in assets, was formed by former Standard Chartered private equity leaders.
